Once upon a time (2004) there was an official download from an Epson site with a couple of PDFs that you could use to print and make your own Howl's Moving Castle papercraft. Sadly, the official download is no longer available. But fortunately the PDFs are still out there somewhere in the web [link] (rar file containig two PDFs with the pieces and an assembling guide).

It's been already three (yes, 3) years since my friend gave me the printed sheets of this nice papercraft as a birthday gift for me to assemble it. It was 26 sheets with some 300 pieces (actually I didn't count them, but I guess it was something like that).

I started building this in 2006. I used to spent some free days cutting and gluing, with all the patience. I just wanted this to be great. So I paid attention to a lot of details that added a nice finish, although they are not easily perceived at first sight. The most important of all, was the hand-colouring of the edges of each piece once cut, so that the edges don't appear as white stripes once assembled. I also used prismacolor pencils to hand-paint the back of many paper pieces so that no white paper was seen after assembled.

I had very few days along this three years to finish it, but finally I made it!!!The assembling log I wrote states that I spent a total of 42 hours and 38 minutes in all the process. This time was increased to 43 hours when I decided to print, cut and glue Sophie, Howl, Markl, and Turnip who didn't came with the original file so I had to edit them from somewhere else and shrink them to scale.

The first small pictures were taken midway into the process with a crappy webcam. Some other small pictures were taken when I was almost finished. The big photos were taken today after the final assembling. (The old Nokia cell phone is there just to give an idea of the actual size of the model).

Wow, very nice on the details with the coloring edges and stuff. I have the original file from Epson myself that I downloaded forever and a half ago...Could you tell me what size paper you printed this on and what kind of a printer you used? I printed some recent papercraft stuff at Kinkos on a color laser printer and it came out shiny. I would much rather have a matte finish like yours for this (and my other Howl's castle that I have in book form).

So anyways I guess let me summarize what I am trying to ask lol;

-What size paper did you use (A4 or just regular letter)?-What style printer did you use?-Did you just remove the lines from the files you had or did you just color over them like a lot?

Well, actually I got the print of the sheets from a friend as a gift. But I can tell you it was made using common print paper. The size was letter. But there is little difference from letter to A4.

As for the printer, it was an inkjet Epson Stylus C48. It is a nice printer that gives bright colours. And if you use common paper the matte finish is great.

After the PDF was printed, I used prismacolor pencils to paint the back of many pieces that otherwise would have look all white. Like the trees' fodder: I painted with green prismacolors in the back before cutting. Some other parts like the legs, the houses' roofs and the propeller need also to be painted before cutting and gluing.

Most of the parts don't need much treatment. I only cut the pieces, and carefully used a prismacolor to paint the white edge of the paper with the proper colour. This may be a bit tedious and it is really very time-consuming, but it is worth. In the end the finished piece looks quite elegant. In most cases where there are dotted lines I also used prismacolor to cover them as much as possible. However if you bend carefully the paper, many of them will go almost invisible

There were some pages that I glued to cardstock before cutting. Those were: the blue base, the vertical column that moves the wings (and is hidden inside the blue base), and the bottom and white inner skeleton of the body. It gives a lot of steadiness when you start assembling. The terrace was also glued to cardstock before cutting. I used thin wood sticks for the bones of the wings to give them more shape and strength.

Fortunately the model is very clear, and once you figure the way each piece is assembled by following the pictures in the PDF it is very easy. The body assembly is not difficult apart from getting the wings attached.

This is one of the best paper models I've ever built, and it surely is pure joy to work in it.

Wow. That's incredible. It most be so beautiful to have. I have a papercraft castle I made a few years ago that has lots of secret openings and people to go in it. They really do look good when it is done. Does it come with a little Howl and Sophie? You should make tiny dolls to go in it!